PSL 2019: Watson takes Gladiators to the finals, defeats Zalmi

ICMD, March 13, 2019

Quetta Gladiators defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 10 runs in the Qualifier round of Pakistan Super League 4 on Wednesday, thereby qualifying for the finals later this week.

The game was completely changed in the last over owing to Shane Watson who, despite not having bowled in the tournament, performed remarkably taking the two most important wickets and breaking the partnership of Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy back-to-back.

Quetta's innings
After Zalmi won the toss and opted to field first, they dealt an early blow to the Gladiators, dismissing their in-form opener Ahmed Shehzad (1 off 4 balls) in just the 2nd over.

But the Gladiators were stacked in in-form-openers department. With Shehzad gone, Shane Watson took charge, hitting Peshawar Zalmi bowlers almost at will. Watson and Ahsan Ali took the score to 53-1 after 5 overs and 96-1 after 10.

The Gladiators finished their innings at 186-6. Man-of-the-match Watson led the scoreboard with a 71-run knock followed by Ali with 46 runs.

Wahab Riaz picked up two wickets for Zalmi while Sameen Gul, KA Pollard, TS Mills and Hasan Ali each picked up a single wicket.

Peshawar's innings
The first wicket for Zalmi fell in the sixth over of the innings with Kamran Akmal out at 22.

Captain Darren Sammy remained the lead scorer for Zalmi (46) until he was run out by Sarfaraz. His 21-ball knock was supported by KA Pollard, who contributed 44 runs to his team's total.

The 'Yellow Storm' as they are known were 107-5 at the end of 15 overs in pursuit of the 187-run target.

As the overs went by, Zalmi lost two more wickets. Wahab Riaz and Hasan Ali, both not out, faced three balls between them and contributed as many runs.

Zalmi finished their innings with 176 runs on the scoreboard at the end of 20 overs, 10 runs shy of their goal, and the match thus went to the Gladiators.

For Quetta, Mohammad Hasnain took two wickets while Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Nawaz, Ahsan Ali and Watson picked up one wicket each.